EN Tech. J., vol. 4, 1990, pp. 67–92

The Early History of Man: Part 1. The Table of Nations

BILL COOPER

INTRODUCTION creationist scholars who have specialised in their study. Likewise, the descent of, say, the American Indians or the The following is the first of a two-part study regard­ Chinese or other Mongoloid races is not dealt with, simply ing the early post-Flood history of mankind. In Part 1, we because they lie outside the scope of the present work. shall examine what documentary evidence exists that Rather, Part 1 in particular is concerned only with that verifies both the presence and activities of those charac­ documentary evidence from those early post-Flood na­ ters and peoples of whom explicit mention is made in that tions of the Middle East who had direct contact with one portion of Genesis that is known as the Table of Nations. another, and who preserved in written records those We shall find in this part of the study that the documentary names that are explicitly mentioned in the Genesis record. evidence available to us is at an astonishing variance with The notices that accompany each genealogy are thus very the claims that are currently being put forward by the brief collections of recorded historical facts and subse­ modernist school of historical and biblical interpretation. quent information that pertain to the names under which According to this school of thought, the Genesis record is they appear, and which have been gleaned over many without historical foundation; whereas we shall see in this years from a wide variety of sources. What is remarkable study that exactly the opposite is true. This portion of about these notices is that they mostly come from ancient Genesis in particular is fully corroborated by an over­ historians and writers of various nationalities who had not whelming richness of documentary (and other) historical the least intention, either conscious or otherwise, of lend­ evidence so vast that it is unique in recorded history! No ing support to the Genesis record. Indeed, most of them other document enjoys such a wealth of detailed corrobo­ were nurtured within pagan systems that were openly an­ ration from such a wide-ranging variety of sources — tagonistic to the knowledge of the One True God, and who sources, moreover, that were often hostile to the concept had laboured over many centuries to darken, if not totally of God and His direct revelation to mankind through His erase that knowledge altogether! Their testimony is written Word. therefore all the more valuable to us. In Part 2, we shall go on to examine the genealogies I certainly would not pretend that the information and king-lists of the early Celts and Saxons that show con­ gathered here is complete in any sense! The subject is too clusively that these pagan, pre-Christian peoples were all vast for that. Indeed, it may be that some will consider one too aware of their historic and ethnic descent from Noah or two of the facts presented in this study to be insuffi­ through Japheth’s line. These peoples, through carefully ciently discussed, and will therefore feel that these should preserved records, could trace their lineage and race back be given a more adequate and exhaustive treatment. to the time of Babel and the dispersal of the nations from Should that be the case, then the fruits of their researches the Plain of Shinar. Again, we shall see how these ancient will be warmly welcomed! My intention, after all, is and unique records are dismissed by the modernist school merely to present to the serious researcher a definite his­ with a readiness that is astonishing in its unthinking torical framework that can be built upon and added to as disregard for the historical method. Rather, the records more information comes to light; that, and to vindicate a that have come down to us will be seen to lend their weight record that has been supposed for too long to be nothing to the already vast body of documentary evidence that can more than a ‘pious fiction’. only convince us that the Genesis record is a true and faithful historical account of the early history of mankind. THE BIRTH OF PAGANISM Certain questions will not be dealt with in this two- part study, for the simple reason that their subject-matter Perhaps the most outstandingly inaccurate claim is vast and that they constitute specialist study and expo­ made today by modernist and liberal scholars, is that the sition. In particular, linguistic inter-relationships and book of Genesis grew out of the pagan mythologies of diversities are only lightly touched upon, because these nations like Babylon. It is indeed a much vaunted claim, will doubtless be the subject of future exposition by but one that flies in the face of all the evidence. We shall see, as our study progresses, that as each nation was Eden was known to the Babylonians as Idinu, and was dispersed from Babel, so they carried with them the names said to have been the paradise in which the ‘immortal’ of their founders, and wove around those names a fanciful ones lived. Moreover, the very name of Babylon itself, mythology that led them further and further away from Bab-ilu, meant literally ‘The Gate of God’, standing as it both the true knowledge of God, and a true understanding did between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — the very of their own beginnings. As time passed, so the ancestor location of Eden as described in the book of Genesis. The worship to which these early peoples were so prone, original Tigris, Euphrates and Eden were, of course, de­ became more gross and degenerate until we are left with stroyed beyond all recognition by the Flood of Noah; and such hideous polytheistic systems as the Babylonian, yet the Babylonians were to preserve both the knowledge Assyrian and Egyptian. Yet, in spite of the parody of and names of them even within their own otherwise per­ religion that we see in the early and modern pagan sys­ verse philosophy. tems, it is still possible to trace the memory, albeit dis­ Likewise, Tubal-cain2 was remembered and wor­ torted, of a great many subjects that Genesis records so shipped by the Babylonians as Bil-kan, the god of metal- accurately.1 working, which name was later further corrupted to Vul­ This is especially true of the Babylonian system. As can, the Roman god of fire. And so it goes on. However, well as such distorted memories as they possessed of the the foundation of paganism was itself a direct and calcu­ Flood, and the dispersal of the nations from Babel, they lated attempt to obscure and pervert the true knowledge of also carried with them distinct memories of Adam, Eve God among the early nations, and its success is all too and the Fall. Indeed, as can be seen in the illustration of evident even today. These pagan gods were adored Figure 1, they were still able to portray Adam, Eve, the merely for the licence that they gave to the practice of Serpent and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil perversions and abominations that it would be tedious to with remarkable accuracy many hundreds of years after describe, and as we ponder these things we surely cannot supposedly losing the knowledge of God altogether! Eve fail to see the absurdity behind the latest notion to emerge was known to them as Nini-ti, ‘The Lady of the Rib’, from the modernist school, namely that all religions lead which name can also mean in their tongue ‘The Lady who to God! Whoever is responsible for such a nonsensical causes to live’, which is the very epithet that Genesis itself idea can know neither the God of Whom they speak, nor records of Eve as the ‘mother of all living’ (see Figure 1). the true and evil nature of pagan worship:

Figure 1. Based on a very early Babylonian cylinder seal, this illustration demonstrates the undoubted knowledge among the early Babylonians of Adam, Eve, the Serpent and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Note how the Serpent stands behind Eve whilst she invites Adam to eat the fruit with her. In all, this seal is an astoundingly accurate picture-book’ account of the Fall. Figure 2. An early Babylonian cylinder seal depicting the migration of an eastern tribe or people. ‘. . . and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth’. Genesis 11:9

‘As a patroness of war (the goddess) Anath appears in same thing applies when we read the history that is a fragment of the Baal Epic in an incredibly bloody contained in the book of Genesis. We accept that history orgy of destruction. For some unknown reason she because, in the face of so many disinterested witnesses fiendishly butchers mankind, young and old, in a most and corroborative statements, that is simply the reason­ horrible and whole sale fashion, wading delightedly in able thing to do. To discard such a vast weight of human gore up to her knees — yea, up to her throat, independent testimony would be most unreasonable, and all the while exulting sadistically. . . “Like gods, like would itself be an act of almost incredible faith in the priest; like priest like people” expresses a law that approach and highly questionable logic of modernistic operates unfailingly.’3 philosophy. It is through the sheer reasonableness, then, It is thus fallacious for the modernist school to suggest of accepting the overwhelming testimony of so many wit­ that either these ‘gods’ or their worshippers bear the nesses that we come to accept the Genesis record as a truly faintest resemblance to those who are one day to inherit historical and factual account; and if this leads us on to the Kingdom of God. And equally fallacious is the idea faith in the God of Whom Genesis so eloquently testifies, that the Word of God owes its origins to any such insidious then that faith is seen to be a reasonable and informed and fatal system.4 faith, and not a blind faith as some would wrongly assert. And so we arrive at the main object of our present REASON AND FAITH study. We shall see that the brief but comprehensive portion of the book of Genesis known as the Table of In the light of all this it is, perhaps, time for us to adopt Nations, embraces a truly vast panorama of human his­ a more reasonable and constructive approach to our study tory; a panorama that took several centuries to be ful­ of the early history of mankind, and of the Genesis record filled. Indeed, it seems that the migration and dispersal of in particular. Some, no doubt, will be quick to decry such the nations from Babel did not finally settle down until an act as that of accepting the truth of the Genesis record only the last century or so. Ever since those distant days, as an act of blind faith. Yet, where does blind faith come when the Plain of Shinar witnessed the first migrations, into it when that record is so fully endorsed by the writings humanity has been spreading itself out across the face of of so many disinterested, or indeed antagonistic wit­ the globe in waves that were every bit as irresistible and nesses? When we read a book about King Henry VIII of energetic in the days of the Vikings as ever they were in England, we are not learning about him by way of ‘blind the days of Nimrod and Asshur, and, on an admittedly faith’, for we know that there are many independent smaller scale, are still observable today. Mankind, in spite sources to which we can go in order to verify what we have of its active determination to do otherwise, has finally read. Rather, we believe the historical accounts of Henry obeyed the commandment of God to ‘multiply and fill the VIII by way of informed reason, not faith; and exactly the earth’ (see Figure 2). THE HISTORICAL NOTICES wise, in the ancient Sanskrit vedas of India, he is remem­ bered as PRA-JAPATI, the sun and ostensible Lord of ‘When all men were of one language, some of them Creation. His name was further corrupted and assimilated built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up into the Roman pantheon as IUPATER, which eventually to heaven; but the gods sent storms of wind and became that of Jupiter. None of these names are recog­ overthrew the tower, and gave everyone his peculiar nised as being of Greek, Indian or Latin origin; but are language; and for this reason it was that the city was rather mere corruptions of the Hebrew name of Japheth. called Babylon’. Similarly, the early Saxon races perpetuated his name as The Sybil Sceaf, (pr. ‘sheef’ or ‘shaif’), and recorded his name in their early genealogies as the son of Noah, the forebear of ‘After this they were dispersed abroad, on account of their various peoples. their languages, and went out by colonies everywhere; and each colony took possession of that land which (2) Gomer they lighted upon, and unto which God led them; so He was the father of the Cimmerians who settled origi­ that the whole continent was filled with them, both the nally on the shores of the Caspian Sea. They were later inland and maritime countries. There were some also driven away by the Elamites (see 49). At the time of the who passed over the sea in ships, and inhabited the Babylonian Exile, the Jews knew them as the tribes that islands: and some o f these nations do still retain the dwelt in the ‘uttermost parts of the north’ (Ezekiel 38:6). names which were given to them by their first found­ The Assyrians referred to them as the Gimirraya. ers; but some also have lost them ...’ Esarhaddon (681–668 b c ) records his defeat of the Gimir­ Flavius Josephus rai; whilst Ashurbanipal tells us of the Cimmerian inva­ Antiquities, Book 1, Chapter V sion of Lydia (see Lud, 52), in the days of the Lydian king Gugu around the year 660 b c (see Map 1). PART ONE: THE LINEAGE OF JAPHETH (3) Ashchenaz Refer to Table 1 and Map 1. His descendants settled originally in what is now Arme­ nia; although in later Jewish traditions he was associated (1) Japheth with his father Gomer with the Germanic races. Hence, Literally the progenitor of many nations — all the Indo- Germanic Jews are still known as Ashkenazi (see Figure European peoples, in fact — it would be surprising in­ 3). More immediately, perhaps, the Assyrians tell us in deed if his name had gone unremembered among them. their inscriptions of the Askuza, a tribe who allied them­ As it is, we find that the early Greeks worshipped him as selves with the Mannai in a revolt during the seventh IAPETOS, or IAPETUS, whom they regarded as the son century b c — an incident that is also mentioned by Jere­ of heaven and earth, and the father of many nations. Like­ miah 51:27. Indeed, it is in this statement that Jeremiah

Table 1. THE LINEAGE OF JAPHETH, THE PROGENITOR OF ALL THE INDO-EUROPEAN RACES. incidentally confirms the identity of the Ashchenazim (5) Togarmah with the Askuza. This name, the Askuza of the Assyrian His earliest descendants settled in Armenia. We know records, later became the Skythai (Scythians) of Hero­ from certain Hittite documents that in the fourteenth dotus. Other early sources confirm their place of settle­ century b c , the then region of Tegarama, which lay ment in what was later to become Pontus and Bythinia, between Carchemish and Haran, was sacked by ‘the where the peoples of Ashchenaz gave their name to the enemy from Isuwa, (that is from beyond the Euphrates)’. lake and harbour of Ascanius, and to the district of Both Sargon II and Sennacherib mention the city of Til­ Ascania. Somewhat more tentatively, perhaps, they are garimanu, the capital of Kammanu which lay on the also said to have given their name to the Axenus or Euxine border of Tabal (see 13). This city lay some 30 miles due Sea (the modern Black Sea), on whose shores they first east of present-day Malatya, and was not finally destroyed settled. Josephus tells us that they were subsequently until the year 695 b c . It is after this destruction of Til­ known to the Greeks as the Rheginians (see Map 1). garimanu that the descendants of Togarmah become lost in obscurity. In line with the Assyrian policy of that time, (4) Riphath the survivors would have been uprooted and transported His descendants gave their name to the Riphaean moun­ to other lands within the Assyrian empire (see Map 1). tains, which early cosmographers thought of as constitut­ ing the then northern boundary of the world. More (6) Magog certainly, Pliny, Melo and Solinus record the name of His immediate descendants being known as the Magog­ Riphath as that of the Riphaei, Riphaces and Piphataei ites, Josephus tells us that they were later known to the who were later known to history as the Paphlagonians, the Greeks as the Scythians. However, given the subsequent descent and identification of which is confirmed by Jo­ history of the peoples of Ashchenaz (see 3), who are far sephus (see Map 1). more certainly identified as the later Scythians (Greek

Map 1. The geographical distribution of Japheth’s immediate descendants. It should, however, be noted that these given areas of settlement are not necessarily contemporaneous with one another. For example, the area shown for the people ofAshchenaz has been deduced from Assyrian documents from the 7th century BC; whereas that o f Meshech has been deduced from inscriptions of the 13th century b c . Naturally, a great deal of ‘adjustment’ would have taken place concerning the borders of each respective nation in that 600 year period, and this must be borne in mind if certain discrepancies are to be successfully resolved. Gomer (the Cimmerians), in order to throw off the Assyr­ ian yoke (see Map 1).

(8) Javan The name of Javan’s descendants appears in Assyrian documents as the Iamanu, where we are told that they engaged the Assyrians in a major naval battle during the reign of Sargon II (721–705 b c ). The Archaemenian inscriptions also refer to them as the Yauna. Homer wrote in the Iliad that Iawones (Hebrew Iawan) was the father of the Ionians (Greek Iones); a nation that was later famed in the old world for the high quality of their yam and bronze vessels. The Hebrews knew the Greek races as the Jevanim (Iewanim) (see Map 1).

(9) Elishah He was the ancestor of the Aeolians, and his name con­ stantly appears in Greek history and mythology. Two Greek cities were named after him, namely Elis and Elissus; and a district was named Ellas in his memory. There is also reason to believe that his name is perpetuated in the Greek paradise, the Elysian Fields. The Amarna tablets refer to his descendants as the Alashia, and the Hittites knew them as the Alasiya. Their name also appears in the Ugaritic inscriptions (see Map 1).

(10) Tarshish The father of the peoples of Tarshish or Tartesis, whose descendants are thought by most to have settled in Spain. The Mediterranean Sea was once known as the Sea of Figure 3. After a woodcut illustration depicting an ‘Ashkenazi’ Jewish Rabbi of Prague, from the year 1617. The Ashkenazi Jews are so called Tarshish, and it is known that the Phoenicians built a class from the fact that, after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, they of sailing vessel called a ship of Tarshish. However, settled in central and eastern Europe, as did the descendants of Phoenician inscriptions that have been found on Sardinia, Ashchenaz centuries before. The Ashkenazi Jews were, of course, the and which date to the ninth century b c , mention Tarsh­ majority of those Jews who were so wickedly slaughtered in the Nazi ish without, unfortunately, providing us with a positive holocaust. identification of its geographical location. Josephus rec­ ords the name as Tharsus, and tells us that it used to be the Skythai and Assyrian Askuza), it is much more likely that name under which Cilicia was once known, the chief and the early Magogites5 were assimilated into the peoples of ‘noblest’ city of which was Tarsus. For various reasons Ashchenaz, thus making up merely a part of the Scythian this is unlikely, and the matter remains as yet unresolved hordes (see Map 1). (see Map 1).

(7) Madai (11) Kittim His descendants became the Madaeans, who are better Referred to in the old Phoenician inscriptions as the ‘kt’ known to us as the Medes. The Assyrians recorded the or ‘kty’, this people settled on the island of Cyprus. They name as Amada; the Greeks as Medai; and the Old were to give their name to the ancient Cypriot city of Persian inscriptions speak of them as the Mada. The Kition, that is modern Larnaka. This city was known to earliest reference to the Medes that is found in secular the Romans as Citium (see Map 1). records is in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser III, King of Assyria from c.858–824 b c , in which he tells us that he (12) Dodanim invaded their lands for their famous and excellent horses. This is the collective name of the people descended from Both Strabo and Herodotus confirm the fact that the Dodan, who were known to the Greeks as the Dardani, the Medes were of Indo-European (that is, Japhetic) extract, Dardanians of Asia Minor. They settled initially around and we know also that their language was of this group. the area of Troy, whose coastal regions are known to this After 631 b c , the Medes joined with the children of day as the Dardanelles. The original progenitor of this Ashchenaz (that is the Askuza or Scythians), and those of people was to be subsequently deified and worshipped as Jupiter Dodonaeus. (Here we have a mingling of the political stance of these various nations is instructive and names of Japheth and Dodan). The propagators of this immensely sobering (see Map 1). cult built the priestly city of Dodona as the chief seat of his worship. Egyptian records tell us that the ‘drdny’ were (15) Tiras allies of the Hittites (see 38) at the battle of Kadesh (see Merenptah of Egypt, who reigned during the thirteenth Map 1). century b c , provides us with what is so far our earliest reference to the people of Tiras, recording their name as (13) Tubal the Tursha, and referring to them as invaders from the The descendants of Tubal first come to our notice in the north. The Greeks were later to know them as the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I, King of Assyria c.1100 Tyrsenoi, whom they feared as marauding pirates. Jo­ b c . He refers to them as the Tabali, whose original area sephus identifies them as the tribe who were known to the of settlement (that is, Tabal) was adjacent to that of Tega­ Romans as Thirasians, but to the Greeks as Thracians. rama (that is, Togarmah, see 5). Subsequently, Josephus History attests that they were indeed a most savage race, was to record the name of Tubal’s descendants as the given over to a perpetual state of ‘tipsy excess’, as one Thobelites, who later became the Iberes. Their land, in Jo­ authority put it. They are also described as a ‘ruddy and sephus’ day, was known to the Romans as Iberia, and blue-eyed’ people. Tiras himself was worshipped by his covered what is today the state of Georgia in the USSR. descendants as the god Mars, but under his own name of From here, having crossed the Caucasus mountain range, Thuras. The river Athyras was also named after him, and this people migrated due north-east, where they gave their it is not at all unlikely that the Etruscans, a nation of old tribal name to the river Tobol, and hence to the hitherto mysterious origin, owe to him both their name and modern-day city of Tobolsk (see Map 1). descent. The ancient city of Troas (Troy) appears to perpetuate his name, as also does the Taurus mountain (14) Meshech range (see Map 1). The descendants of Meshech are often spoken of in close association with those of Tubal (see 13), the Assyrians, for example, mentioning the Tabal and Musku, whilst Hero­ PART TWO: THE LINEAGE OF HAM dotus also writes of the Tiberanoi and Moschoi. A very much earlier reference to the posterity of Meshech is an Refer to Table 2, and Maps 2 and 3. inscription of c.1200 b c which tells us how they overran the Hittite kingdom; and an inscription of Tiglath-pileser (16) Ham I, c.1100 b c , who tells us that, in his own day, the Mus- ka-a-ia were able to put an army of 20,000 men into the ‘Yt is observed that Cham, and his famely, were the field. The activities of this same people are also subse­ only far Travellers, and Straglers into divers un­ quently reported by Tukulti-ninurta II, Ashurnasirpal II, knowne countries, searching, exploring and sitting Sargon and Shalmaneser III, who refers to them as the downe in the same: as also yt is said of his famely that Mushki. Josephus knew them as the Mosocheni (LXX. what country soever the Children of Cham happened Mosoch), whom, he says, were known in his own day as to possesse, there beganne both the Ignoraunce of the Cappadocians (but see 34). He also points out that then- true godliness . . . and that no inhabited countryes chief city was known to his contemporaries as Mazaca, cast forth greater multytudes, to raunge and stray into which was also once the name of the entire nation. divers remote Regions’. Some later writers have pointed out that the name is preserved in the old tribal name of the Muscovites of Thus the findings of one William Strachey, who Russia, who gave their name in turn to the city of Moscow. added to these words in 1612 the following damning in­ Such an identification, it must be said, is not at all unlikely, dictment, accusing Ham’s posterity of instigating; especially when we consider the subsequent history of their historically close associates, the people of Tubal, and ‘. . .the Ignoraunce of the true worship of God . . . the the fact that the name of the city is still today rendered in inventions of Heathenisme, and adoration of falce the Russian tongue as Moskva — an exceedingly close, godes, and the D evill. . .’.(Hodgen p. 262, see Bib­ not to say identical relationship to the Assyrian Musku. liography). Intriguingly, we read in the book of Ezekiel 38:2 of ‘Gog of the land of Magog (see 6), the prince of Rosh, (Rosh is It must be said that Strachey, in writing such words, the name under which the modern Israelis know Russia), was hardly departing from the norm of opinion that histo­ Meshech and Tubal’. All these, with the armies of Gomer rians had been voicing for hundreds of years before him. (see 2), Togarmah (see 5), Persia (modern Iran), Ethiopia Indeed, whenever the origin of heathenism or paganism and Libya, are to come against the restored land of Israel was treated, it was invariably to Ham and his immediate in the last days. In view of this prophecy, the present-day descendants that the accusing finger would be pointed; Table 2. THE LINEAGE OF HAM. The peoples of Ham's line populated parts of Asia Minor, the Arabian Peninsula, and eventually the entire continent of Africa — once known as the Land of Ham.

and not, it seems, without reason. saving knowledge of the One True God. Even if we discount the testimony of earlier histori­ Regarding Ham himself, secular history is almost ans, who it could be said, were unduly biased in their completely silent save for the fact that Africa was once opinions either on a cultural or religious basis, we are known as the Land of Ham. The Egyptians likewise called nevertheless presented with overwhelming and indisput­ their own land Kam. able archaeological evidence that all of the early Hamitic peoples were given over to the most debased and de­ (17) Cush graded systems of thought and worship. Indeed, to say Josephus writes: that they were merely deprived of the knowledge of God would be an understatement, for the immediate descen­ ‘ . . . time has not at all hurt the name of Chus (i.e. dants of Ham were so quick to divest themselves of that Cush); for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are knowledge, and so thorough were they in its complete ex­ even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in tirpation among themselves, that we can only conclude Asia, called Chusites’. that they consented to and were partakers in some grand and wilful conspiracy to destroy that knowledge alto­ The name of Cush is preserved in Egypt’s hiero­ gether. In fact, it is within only a few generations of their glyphic inscriptions as Kush, the name referring to the migration from Babel, that we read of the Canaanites, the country that lay between the second and third cataracts of Sodomites and others as having filled their cups of iniq­ the Nile. This same land was later known as Nubia. uity. And this conclusion is more than adequately con­ Additional confirmation of this location is given in an firmed by all the documentary and archaeological evi­ inscription of Esarhaddon of Assyria (681–668 bc), who dence that has come down to us. Indeed, even if the Bible tells us that he made himself king of ‘Musur (see 26), had itself remained silent on the matter, then the extra- Paturisi (see 31), and Cush’. Some assert that the name of biblical evidence would have been more than sufficient to Cush was also perpetuated in that of the Babylonian city force us to the sad conclusion that the early Hamitic of Kish, ostensibly one of the earliest cities to be built after nations deliberately rendered themselves devoid of all the Flood (see Map 2). Map 2. The distribution of Semitic peoples throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and certain areas of Asia Minor. Among them are shown eight Hamitic peoples, who clearly make up only a minority of the Arab nations. Again, these areas of settlement are not necessarily contemporaneous with one another. Map 3. The approximate areas of settlement of the descendants of Mizraim throughout Egypt and Libya.

(18) Sebah preserved in the ancient city of Shabwat, the capital of the He founded the nation that was known to later history as Hadramaut (Hazarmaveth, see 63) (see Map 2). the Sabaeans. Strabo writes of their chief town of Sabai and its harbour of Saba, both of which lay on the west coast (21) Raamah of the Arabian peninsula (see Map 2). We know from the inscriptions of ancient Sheba (see 22) that Raamah’s descendants settled near to the land of (19) Havilah Havilah (see 19) to the east of Ophir (see 71). They are The progenitor of the Hamitic tribe of Havilah, his de­ known from other sources to have traded with the children scendants settled on the east coast of Arabia overlooking of Zidon (see 37) in the city of Tyre (see Map 2). the Persian Gulf, where their land was known to the pre- Islamic Arabian cosmographers as Hawlan (but see 72). (22) Sheba Kautsch renders the name as Huwailah, and confirms Minaean inscriptions from the north Yemen, which are their settlement on the eastern coast of Arabia (see Map dated to the ninth century BC, tell us that Sheba was that 2). kingdom’s southern neighbour. The land of Sheba is also (20) Sabta known to us from Assyrian records of the eighth century Josephus records the name of his (Sabta’s) descendants as b c . Sheba was once famed as the Land of Spices, and we the Sabateni. Ptolemy knew them as the Stabaei, and Pliny know from the vast archaeological ruins, some of whose called them the Messabathi. They settled on the eastern walls still stand some 60 feet above the desert sands, that side of the Arabian peninsula. Sabta’s name is also the land was extremely fertile, being watered by ingen­ ious irrigation systems that were controlled by a vast dam the fame of Nimrod. A little later, in the period BC that once spanned the river Adhanat. In the year 542 b c , 1100 to 800, we have in Egypt many persons named however, the dam collapsed after more than a thousand after Nimrod, showing a knowledge of the mighty years of service, an event that is recalled in the Koran and hunter there.’ (Chaldean Genesis p. 313) described there as a judgment of God upon the people. The ancient world knew of Arabia as consisting of four In fact, Nimrod was probably the most notorious man ‘spice kingdoms’, these being Minaea, Kataban, Had­ in the ancient world who is credited with instigating the ramaut (Hazarmaveth, see 63), and Sheba (but see 95) Great Rebellion at Babel, and founding the very worst (see Map 2). features of paganism, including the introduction of magic, astrology and human sacrifice. There is, moreover, much (23) Dedan evidence to suggest that he himself was worshipped from His posterity are known to have traded with the Phoeni­ the very earliest times. His name, for example, was cians. Identified from various cuneiform inscriptions, perpetuated in those of Nimurda, the Assyrian god of war; their main place of settlement was the city that is known Marduk, the Babylonian king of the gods; and the today as Al-ula, which lies some 70 miles south-west of Sumerian deity Amar-utu. His image was likewise incor­ modern Taima (see 109) (see also 96) (see Map 2). porated very early on in the Chaldean zodiac as a child seated on his mother’s lap, and both mother and child were (24) Sabtecha worshipped — a pattern since repeatedly followed Identified by Josephus as the Sabactens, Sabtecha’s de­ throughout history. He was also worshipped as the god scendants appear to have settled in south Arabia, the Bacchus, this name being derived from the Semitic Bar- modern Yemen (see Map 2). Cush, meaning the son of Cush. A mountain not far from Ararat has been called Nimrud Dagh (Mount Nimrod) (25) Nimrod from the earliest times, and the ruins of Birs Nimrud bear Writing in 1876, George Smith tells us that, the remains of what is commonly reputed to be the original Tower of Babel. Likewise, Sir Walter Raleigh’s History ‘Nearly thirteen hundred years before the Christian of the World (1634) shows a map in which the Caspian era, one of the Egyptian poems likens a hero to the Sea was once known as the ‘Mar de Bachu’, or the Sea of Assyrian chief, Kazartu, a great hunter . . . and it has Bacchus. One of the chief cities of Assyria was named already been suggested that the reference here is to Nimrud, and the Plain of Shinar, known to the early

Figure 4. After a very early Babylonian cylinder seal depicting tower-building. ‘Go to, and let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven’. Genesis 11:4. Note the posture of the central figure, who is clearly directing the builders. Decidedly spectral, does he represent Nimrod, or the fallen though once-angelic being who inspired him? Syrians as Sen’ar, was itself once known as the Land of people settled on the north coast of Africa and gave their Nimrod. Iraqi and Iranian Arabs speak his name with awe name to the nation of Libya. They are known to have even today, and such is the notoriety of the man that his provided Egypt on more than one occasion with merce­ historical reality is quite beyond dispute (see Figure 4) nary troops, the records that tell us this giving their name (see Map 2). as the Lebu. Otherwise, Josephus records their destruc­ tion, or rather defeat, in the Ethiopic War (see Map 3). (26) Mizraim A collective name, these people settled in Egypt. Indeed, Mizraim is still the Israeli name for that nation. The name (28) Anamim is also preserved in the Ugaritic inscriptions as msrm; in Secular records are apparently silent concerning this the Amarna tablets as Misri; and in the Assyrian and people, which may be accounted for by the devastations Babylonian records as Musur and Musri. Modern Arabs of the Ethiopic War (see 26) (see Map 3). still know it as Misr. Josephus relates a curious episode that he called the Ethiopic War, an incident that was ap­ (29) Lehabim parently well known throughout the ancient world. Ac­ The Egyptians recorded this name as ‘rbw’, although it is cording to this account, some six or seven nations de­ uncertain where they settled. Some authorities (including scended from Mizraim were destroyed, clearly a major Josephus) give Libya as their country. They were, how­ conflict that would have had profound and far-reaching ever, destroyed in the Ethiopic War (see Map 3). repercussions on the world of those times. Josephus lists those nations that were destroyed as the Ludim (see 27), the Anamim (see 28), the Lehabim (see 29), the Na­ (30) Naphtuhim phtuhim (see 30), the Pathrusim (see 31), the Casluhim This people are known to have settled in the Nile Delta and (see 32) and the Caphtorim (see 34) (see Map 3). the western parts of Egypt, where early records refer to them as the p ’t’mhw — literally, they of the Delta or (27) Ludim Marshland. Josephus records their destruction in the Seemingly known in later records as the Lubim, this Ethiopic War (see Map 3).

Figure 5. A very early scene depicting the arrival of a tribe at Beni-Hassan in Upper Egypt, the district of Pathros. The hieroglyphs tell us that the leader of this tribe was named Abesha, and that they had migrated from the east of Canaan. The tablet that is being handed to Khnemu-Hetep, the Egyptian Governor, tells us that they arrived in the sixth year of Usertsen ll’s reign. The original painting is conventionally dated to c .2400 b c . (31) Pathrusim The people of this name migrated to Upper Egypt, where the Egyptians recorded their name as the p’t’rs (or Ptores), and where they gave their name to the district of Pathros. Esarhaddon, king of Assyria from 681–668 BC, records his conquest of the Paturisi, thus showing that this people, at least, could not have been totally destroyed in the earlier Ethiopic War as asserted by Josephus (see Figure 5) (see Map 3).

(32) Casluhim The precise whereabouts of their country is uncertain, although the book of Genesis does record that the Philis­ tines came from this people. Some cite Crete as their possible place of settlement, which, if true, would make the Ethiopic War of Josephus a truly international con­ flict, as he records the destruction of the Casluhim in that war. This, however, only serves to make Crete a most unlikely place for their settlement, the northern areas of Egypt being a far more reasonable proposition (but see 34) (see Map 3).

(33) Philistim Better known to us as the Philistines, they were known to the Assyrians as the Palashtu, and to the Greeks as ‘he Palaistine’ — hence the later name of Palestine. After the Assyrian conquests of the eighth century b c , however, the Philistines effectively disappear as a coherent nation. It is currently being taught that the Philistines did not appear until the thirteenth century b c , and that they are to be iden­ tified as the ‘Sea Peoples’ of Egyptian literature. But this Figure 6. A Canaanite prisoner-of-war as depicted by the Egyptians. view is entirely erroneous. The Genesis record states The Canaanites’ close physical resemblance to Semites, and the fact that they also spoke a Semitic language, doubtless accounts for the emphatically that the Philistim occupied parts of Canaan double emphasis that Genesis puts upon their real descent from Ham. as early as the time of Abraham, and far from implying (See Genesis 9:18 and 22) that their place of origin was Crete, as currently supposed, it is much more likely to have been northern Egypt (but see 34) (see Map 3).

(34) Caphtorim said to have occupied the isles of the sea, for example A great deal of quite needless confusion has reigned over Cyprus or Crete et al.; whereas this qualification is the recent question of Caphtorim’s provenance. This is entirely absent with either the Semitic or Hamitic races. mainly due to modernist efforts to identify Caphtor as The early Cretans, we know, were not a Hamitic people, Crete. This would allow the assertion that the Philistines but were rather Indo-European in race, language and (see 33) were the Sea Peoples of the thirteenth century b c , culture, which confirms their descent from Japheth (not and that the Genesis record therefore errs when it speaks Ham) as provided in the Genesis account. of the Philistines as the nineteenth century b c contempo­ Furthermore, Josephus relates the involvement and raries of Abraham. subsequent defeat of the Caphtorim in the Ethiopic War, The Genesis record, however, gives the common- a conflagration that was confined to the borders of Egypt sense and verifiable place of the Caphtorim’s origin as and Ethiopia, and which did not, as far as we know, Egypt, that is the Mizraim (see 26). Genesis tells us that involve the isles of the sea. Moreover, Jeremiah 47:4 the Caphtorim were descended from the Mizraim, and, described the Philistines as the ‘remnant of the country of through the absence of any qualifying remarks, leaves us Caphtor’; thus implying that by his own day the with the strong implication that the Caphtorim therefore Caphthorim were a depleted nation. There is also strong dwelt on the mainland of Egypt and North Africa either evidence of a direct etymological link between the ai- amongst, or in close proximity to their forebears, the Kaphtor of the Old Testament and the Aiguptos of Greek Mizraim. Only the descendants of Japheth (see 1) are literature, Aiguptos being merely the archaic form of the Map 4. The distribution of certain Semitic peoples throughout Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Among them are certain minor Hamitic peoples. Again, these various areas of settlement are not necessarily contemporaneous. western name for Egypt. (35) Put That Caphtor’s descendants were mainland dwellers The country in which the descendants of Put settled is well is also confirmed in the Assyrian inscriptions in which known to us from Egyptian records, which render the they are named as the Kaptara; and in the Ugaritic inscrip­ name as Put or Punt. It is always spoken of as closely tions as the ‘kptr’. Later Egyptian records speak of the associated with Egypt, and its close proximity to that ‘kftyw’ or Kaphtur, a term that was used in relation to nation is confirmed by an inscription from the archives of Phoenicia, not Crete. Intriguingly, the Septuagint trans­ Darius I the Great, King of Persia from 522–486 b c . Here lates the name as καφθοριιμ, or Kaphtoriim, in Genesis the land of Puta is shown as lying in the proximity of 10:14; whereas in the book of Deuteronomy 2:23 they are Cyrenaica, that is on the North African coast to the west recorded as καππδοκεσo, that is, the Kappadokes or of Egypt. This same land was also known as Puta to the Cappadocians. Likewise, the Latin Vulgate gives the Babylonians, and as Putiya in the Old Persian inscriptions rendering Caphtorim in Genesis 10:14, thus following the (see Map 3). original Hebrew; whereas in Deuteronomy 2:23 it fol­ lows the Greek Septuagint in the rendering Cappadoces (36) Canaan and Cappadocia — Cappadocia, of course, referring to The posterity of Canaan settled in the land that was later mainland Asia Minor. To identify the Caphtorim as early to be given to Israel. At the time of the Israelite conquest, Cretans is therefore a clearly untenable position, and is the population of Canaan consisted of all the tribes de­ due to the unquestioning though wrongful assumption scended from him (see 37–47). Both Sanchuniathon and amongst today’s scholars that the Table of Nations is not Phylo of Byblos confirm the fact that the Canaanites to be taken seriously as a historically reliable account (see derived their name from their founder. The Greeks and Map 3). Phoenicians knew the name as Kna’an; the Egyptians

Figure 7. A Hittite charioteer, after a bas-relief at Malatya. Before the turn of this present century and the uncovering of Hittite ruins, it was, of course, known for a certainty within modernist academic circles that the Hittites had never existed! Table 3. THE LINEAGE OF SHEM, THE FATHER OF ALL THE SEMITIC RACES. knew it as Kn’nw; and the Hurrians described certain conquest of Canaan. Solomon was later to use Hivites as dyed cloths as Kinahne or Canaanite cloth. In spite of their builders (see Map 4). Hamitic descent, however, the Canaanites spoke a Se­ mitic language (see Figure 6) (see Map 4). (43) Arkite This people come to our notice in the inscriptions of (37) Zidon Shalmaneser II and Tiglath-pileser HI, both kings of He settled, with his descendants, on the Mediterranean Assyria, and both of whom describe the Arkites as ‘rebel­ coast of Canaan, where his name is still preserved today lious’. The Arkites were also known to the Egyptians, and in the city of Sidon. Originally known as Zidonians, his are mentioned in the Amarna tablets as the Irkata. Their posterity were later called Phoenicians. They are known city is known today as Tell-Arqa, a place that Thutmose to us from various inscriptions of the old world (see Map III of Egypt refers to as Arkantu. The city was later known 4). to the Romans as Caesari Libani (see Map 4).

(38) Heth (44) Sinite Heth was the progenitor of the Hittite nation, whose name The name of this people is still to be found today in the was known to the Assyrians as the Khatti. The Hittites cities of Nahr as-Sinn and Sinn addarb, which are both in were apparently the first nation to smelt iron. The Ar­ close proximity to Arqa (see 43). The Phoenicians (see marna tablets contain letters that were sent from the Hittite 37) knew the Sinites as the Usnu; the Assyrians called emperor Subbiluliuma to the Pharoah Amenhotep IV. them the Usana and Siannu; and the Ugaritic tablets refer Rameses II also tells us how he engaged the Hittites in to them as the ‘sn’ (see Map 4). what was the earliest recorded battle involving massed chariots. This was the famous battle of Kadesh, and it appears that the Hittites got the better of the Egyptian (45) Arvadite forces. Heth’s name was perpetuated in the Hittite capital This people settled on the island that bore their founder’s Hattushash, that is modern Boghazkoy in Turkey (see name, Arvad. Today, it is known as Ruad, and lies north Figure 7) (see Map 4). of the bay of Tripoli, about two miles out to sea. The Arvadites were famed in the old world for their skilful (39) Jebusite seamanship, drawing for this even the grudging admira­ The posterity of Jebus settled in the mountainous regions tion of the Assyrians. Later, the island of Arvad was to of Judea where, due to their strong and natural fortifica­ play a crucial role in controlling certain areas of the main­ tions, they were able to withstand the armies of Israel. The land during the conquests of Alexander the Great. The Ar­ original city of Jebus came later to be known as Jerusalem, vadites were also known in the Amarna tablets as the the Urusalimmu of the Amarna tablets (see Map 4). Arwada (see Map 4).

(40) Amorite (46) Zemarite Known to the Sumerians as the Martu, and to the Akkadi­ The posterity of Zemar were known to the Assyrians as the ans as the Amurru, this people settled in the land of Simirra, and to the Egyptians as the Sumur. The name is Canaan. They appear to have initially adopted a nomadic still preserved in the modern city of Sumra, just north of way of life, although they were soon to organise them­ Tripoli (see Map 4). selves into a very powerful and aggressive nation. The Amorites, indeed, were to conquer Babylonia, subse­ (47) Hamathite quently producing one of the most famous kings in the The city where this people settled lay on Orontes, and was ancient world, Hammurabi, whose own name contains the named after their forebear, Hamath. Sargon II of Assyria designation Amurru (see Map 4). tells us how he conquered the city, and it was at Hamath (41) Girgashite that Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian armies in 605 The name of this people has been discovered in the b c . The Greeks and Romans subsequently knew the city Ugaritic inscriptions as ‘grgs’ and ‘bn-grgs’, that is, as Epiphaneia, although today it has reverted to its ancient Girgash and the sons or children of Girgash. They are also name, Hamah. In 853 b c the men of Hamath were able to known to us in the Hittite documents as the Karkisa; and successfully check Assyrian ambitions in the west by in Egyptian records as the Kirkash. They settled to the east mobilising an army of no less than 63,000 foot, 2,000 light of the river Jordan, between Galilee and the Dead Sea (see horse, 4,000 battle chariots, and 1,000 camels! (see Map Map 4). 4).

(42) Hivite PART THREE; THE LINEAGE OF SHEM Known to the ancient Greeks as the Heuaios, this people moved to the foothills of Lebanon during the Israelite Refer to Table 3 and Map 4. (48) Shem However, whilst such problems are by no means insu­ The progenitor of all the Semitic races. The name, Shem, perable, we must be careful not to apply solutions that are is rendered as Sumu in the Akkadian inscriptions. At the too simplistic. National boundaries, in these early times, time of the scattering of the nations from Babel, the if they existed at all, were notoriously elastic. Some descendants of Japheth (see 1) migrated to the north and peoples would merge with neighbouring tribes and na­ north-west of Shinar, mainly towards Europe. They also tions if only for the mutual protection that this afforded migrated to the south-east towards the Indian sub-conti­ them in an often hostile world; the classic example being nent, and thence to the Far East. The descendants of Shem the merging of the peoples of Magog and Ashchenaz (see and Ham, however, shared between them the southern and 3 and 6) to make up together the fierce and war-like central regions of Asia Minor and Arabia, with Ham’s Scythian peoples. At other times they may be conquered descendants subsequently spreading onto the African and dispersed or assimilated within conquering tribes continent. This, of course, meant that a certain amount of beyond any further recognition. Therefore, it is hardly intermingling took place between the posterities of Shem surprising that some should be lost to us altogether, whilst and Ham, and it is consequently sometimes difficult to assess whether certain early nations were predominantly Semitic or Hamitic. Sometimes, for example, a people descended from Ham would adopt a Semitic language. Sometimes, a Semitic people would adopt an Indo-European (Japhetic) tongue, and this has naturally led to some confusion over certain archaeological or documentary aspects of the evi­ dence. It has also, sadly, allowed the charge to be rashly made that the Table of Nations is replete with alleged ‘scribal errors’ and other types of mistake or fraud. A careful study of the following notices, however, should quell such fears. The confusion that currently reigns, though, is espe­ cially prevalent amongst the early Arab nations. For example, Sheba and Dedan (see 22 and 23) are recorded in the genealogy as the grandsons of Cush, and were thus the progenitors of two Hamitic nations. Later in the ge­ nealogy, however there are yet two other founders of Arab tribes named Sheba and Dedan (see 95 and 96), both of whom, being descended from Abraham through Jokshan, are thus of Semitic origin. (There is also a third Sheba — see 70 — but he is extraneous to the point that we are now considering.) They are recorded in all instances as distinct and separate peoples. The problem, therefore, is deciding whether the later nations of Sheba and Dedan were so named after their Semitic or Hamitic ancestors. The linguistic evidence is hardly decisive, as types of language were often adopted from outside the tribal or national sphere. Therefore, we are left with the chrono­ logical evidence which tells us, in this particular instance, that the tribes of Sheba and Dedan were originally of Hamitic descent, as the grandsons of Cush quite obviously lived several generations (eight to be precise) earlier than the sons of Jokshan. Thus, the later Semitic tribes of Sheba and Dedan were so named after the lands and Hamitic peoples amongst whom they settled. Indeed, it is of special interest for us to note in this context that the Hebrew word for Arab (that is ‘rab) is derived from the same root as ‘ereb, meaning a mixed multitude. Furthermore, even today the Semitic tribes of the Arabian peninsula will Figure 8. An Elamite, after a gold statuette of C.1200BC. The Elamites speak disdainfully of their Hamitic neighbours as Musta are referred to constantly by their erstwhile neighbours Assyria and Tabs, or pretended Arabs. Babylonia. certain others should be of an entirely mysterious prove­ a 2½ acre ruin that is still called Arpachiya. It lies some nance. For the most part, though, these various peoples four miles to the east of ancient Nineveh, and is the are still traceable in the ancient records, their historical re­ remains of a very early farming community (see Map 2). ality, at least, being thus firmly demonstrated, even if their precise areas of settlement should sometimes be too vague (52) Lud to be accurately assessed. The early descendants of Lud, the Ludim, were known to both the Assyrians and Babylonians as the Ludu. Jo­ (49) Elam sephus tells us that their land was later known as Lydia (a The founder of the Elamites, which people were known to direct Greek derivation of the name of Lud) which lay in the Babylonians as the Elamtu, to the Greeks as Elymais, western Asia Minor. The Lydians were famed in the old and whom the Romans knew as Elymaei. The Elamites world for the skill of their archers. They spoke an Indo- recorded their own name as the Haltamti. Subsequently, European language, some examples of which are in the the Old Persian inscriptions rendered their name as (h)uju, form of certain items of graffiti that currently deface and the Middle Persian inscriptions speak of huz, which certain Egyptian monuments. The land of Lydia, how­ is simply the archaic form of the modern Persian name for ever, was finally conquered by Cyrus, king of Persia, in Khuzistan, which now covers what used to be the land of the year 546 b c (see Map 4). Elam (see Figure 8) (see Map 2). (53) Aram (50) Asshur He was the founder of the Aramaeans, known to the The founder of the nation to whom he gave his name, to Akkadians as the Aramu, but who were later known to the wit Assyria. It may be possible to identify Asshur in the Greeks as Syrians (from Serug?, see 76). In an Assyrian early king-lists of Assyria as Puzur-Asshur I. According inscription of Tiglath-pileser I, c.1100 b c , the Aramaeans to these lists, Puzur-Asshur I would have lived and are described as living to the east of the river Tigris. By reigned c.1960 b c , which accords rather well with the the time of Tiglath-pileser III, however (that is, some 400 biblical chronology. Asshur was one of the earliest men years later), they are living all over Mesopotamia; after to be deified and worshipped by his descendants. Indeed, which, of course, they settled to the west, occupying as long as Assyria lasted, that is until 612 b c , accounts o f roughly the same area that makes up modern Syria. A clay battles, exploits, diplomatic affairs and foreign bulletins tablet from Ur bears the name of Aramu, and it is of were daily read out to his image; and every Assyrian king interest to note that Aramaic is still spoken today (see held that he wore the crown only with the express permis­ Figure 9) (see Map 2). sion of Asshur’s deified ghost. On an even more fanciful level, in Jewish rabbinical literature he is said to have been (54) Uz the only righteous man in the days of the building of Babel, There is considerable disagreement as to the precise area moving away when he learned the sinful nature of the in which the descendants of Uz settled; and given the enterprise. But this is so unlikely, and is at such variance somewhat mobile nature of the Aramaeans (Aram was the with the very nature of even his earliest descendants that father of Uz, see 53) this is hardly surprising. Northern it can be safely dismissed (see Map 2). Arabia, between Babylonia and Edom, seems the most likely area of settlement (see Map 2). (51) Arphaxad He was the progenitor of the Chaldeans, his name being (55) Hul equivalent to ‘arp-keshed’, that is, the boundary of Chal­ His descendants settled north of the Sea of Galilee, where dea. That he was indeed the forebear of the Chaldeans is they gave their name to the lake and vale of Huleh (the confirmed by the Hurrian (Nuzi) tablets, which render the biblical Waters of Merom). The place was notorious name as Arip-hurra — the founder of Chaldea. The name amongst Victorian explorers of Palestine for its tribes of was also known to the Akkadians as Arraphu. Some Bedhouin robbers, and its far from healthy marshes and scholars have endeavoured to treat his name as a deriva­ swamps, which today have been drained, the reclaimed tive of the Assyrian phrase ‘arba-kishshatu’, meaning the land being farmed and settled. The modern Israelis have four comers of the world; but given the somewhat also set up a nature reserve there, and know the place as localised nature of the Chaldean people, confining them­ the vale of Hula. The lake of Hula is formed by the accu­ selves for the most part to southern Mesopotamia, this mulation of water from the two sources of the Jordan derivation is unlikely. The Assyrians knew his descen­ before beginning their descent to Galilee (see Map 4). dants as the Kaldu, adept astrologers, magicians and mathematicians. Ptolemy, however, recorded the name (56) Gether of their land as Arrapachitis, whilst it was known to others His descendants settled to the south of Damascus. Jo­ as Arphaxitis. The very earliest settlement of the children sephus identifies them as the latter-day Bactrians, famous of Arphaxad, however, appears to have been what is today amongst other things for a breed of camel. Whether this (58) Shelah His name has not yet been found in secular sources.

(59) Eber He gave his name to the Hebrew race. Some scholars have tried to identify him as Ebru, erstwhile king of Ebla, a theory that is not only impossible to substantiate, but is also unlikely on both chronological and ethnic grounds. The attempt to identify the Habiru of the Egyptian chronicles with the Hebrews may also be somewhat forced, although it is fair to add that, although we today tend to think only of the Jewish nation as Hebrews, in fact all of Eber’s descendants would technically have been Hebrew also, the Joktanite tribes of Arabs included. But more and better evidence is needed before the matter can be finally settled.

(60) Joktan The progenitor of no less than thirteen southern Arabian tribes, he is remembered by modern Arabs as Yaqtan. Only the purest Arabs, it is still maintained, are those Semitic Arabs descended from Joktan; whilst Hamitic Arabs are referred to somewhat disdainfully as Musta ‘rabs, that is, pretended Arabs (see Shem, 48). Joktan’s name is preserved in the ancient town of Jectan, near present-day Mecca (see Map 2).

(61) Almodad Young gives Almodad’s name as meaning The Agitator, which, if correct, hides what is no doubt a most interest­ ing background. The name is certainly Arabic — his de­ scendants are known to early Arab historians as the Al­ morad tribe — although their precise area of settlement cannot now be determined (see Map 2).

(62) Sheleph A southern Arabian tribe who were known to the pre- Figure 9. A descendant of Aram. This illustration is after an ivory Islamic Arabs as the Salif. They were a Yemeni tribe carving of Hazael, king of Syria, whom Elijah the prophet anointed (1 Kings 19:15– 17). It was found amongst his personal belongings, taken whose capital, Sulaf, lay some 60 miles due north of by the Assyrians as spoils. They knew Hazael as the ‘son of nobody’. present-day Sana (see 66) (see Map 2).

(63) Hazarmaveth identification is correct or not cannot now be determined. His descendants populated the 200 mile long valley that It should, however, be noted that Bactria was populated by runs parallel to the southern coast of Arabia. It is known ‘Aryan’, that is Japhetic tribes in late Assyrian times, to this day as the Hadramaut (a direct transposition into whereas the children of Gether were, of course, Semites Arabic of the name Hazarmaveth). In pre-Islamic inscrip­ (but see Shem, 48) (see Map 4). tions, the name is variously rendered hdrmt and hdrmwt. Strabo tells us that the tribe of Hazarmaveth was one of the (57) Meshech four main tribes of Arabs in his day. The name means His descendants are not to be confused with those of the ‘town of death’ (Hadramaut means the same thing in Japhetic Meshech (see 14) who were Indo-Europeans. Arabic), the history of which, could we but discover it, The name of this Semitic line of Meshech was also known would doubtless render a fascinating, though tragic, ac­ as Mash, the area of whose settlement can be deduced count (see Map 2). from the fact that the Akkadians rendered the name as Mashu; which in turn was known to the Egyptians as (64) Jerah Msh’r. Both of these names refer to peoples who dwelt in There lies, on the shores of Galilee, a mined mound that Lebanon (see Map 4). is named Beth-Yerah, that is the House of Jerah, although it is unlikely that this refers to the subject here. It is. rather, name of Havilah. The first was of Hamitic descent, and far more likely that his descendants migrated into the is noted as (19) in the genealogy. This Hamitic tribe southern regions of Arabia. Indeed, the Arab city that bore settled in the eastern regions of the Arabian peninsula. Jerah’s name, and which was rendered by Ptolemy as Their land was known to Arabian cosmographers as Jerakon Kome, lay on the Mahra coast close to the Had­ Hawlan. Kautsch renders the name as Huwailah, a people ramaut (see 63) (see Map 2). who dwelt on the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf. The Semitic tribe of Havilah, however, remained distinct, and (65) Hadoram occupied areas on the opposite side of the peninsula. In A southern Arabian tribe which is seemingly unattested in Strabo’s day, they were still occupying areas of northern secular records (see Map 2). Arabia, their name being recorded by him as the Khaulo­ taei. Josephus knew them as the Euilat. The Arabian cos­ (66) Uzal mographer, Yakut, informs us that their dialect, Hawil, Arab historians render the name of Uzal as Azal, and this was spoken by ‘the descendants of Midian, the son of is the ancient pre-Islamic name of the city of San’a, the Abraham’ (see 87). This Semitic tribe of Havilah also modern capital of the Yemen. Uzal’s descendants are still occupied the southernmost tip of Arabia, crossing the doubtless thriving in the area. The Assyrians knew the Bab-el-Mandeb to the African coast. Here both Ptolemy tribe of Uzal as the Azalia (see Map 2). and Pliny refer to their city of Aualis on the Red Sea coast of Africa, which lay next to the modern state of Djibouti. (67) Diklah This same city (Aualis) is today known as Zeila (see Map The Akkadians rendered this name as Diklat, the Aramae­ 2). ans gave it as Diklath, and the Assyrians knew it as Idiklat; all of which transpose into Greek as Tigris. This may (73) Jobab prove to be an important clue as to the area in which this Jobab’s descendants were known to the Akkadians as the people settled, that is to the north of the Persian Gulf, or at Iabibi. They settled in the town that bore their founder’s least in the north-east extremity of the Arabian peninsula name, Juhaibab, which, according to Sabean inscriptions, (see Map 2). lay close to what is now Mecca (see Map 2).

(68) Obal (74) Peleg A southern Arabian tribe whose name was rendered by In his day was the earth divided. The meaning of his name, Arab historians as Ebal. Ancient inscriptions from the that is, ‘division’, as rendered in Hebrew, is confirmed by Yemen render it as Abil, which is elsewhere given as Ubal. the Akkadian noun pulukku, which means a dividing up According to these sources the location of this tribe’s of territory by means of borders and boundaries. The place of settlement lies between the ancient Yemeni cities Akkadian verb meaning to divide at the borders, is palaku. of Hadeida and San’a (see Uzal, 66) (see Map 2). Likewise, the Assyrian palgu refers to the dividing up of land by canals and irrigation systems. It is in this sense that (69) Abimael the Hebrew word peleg is used in, for example, Job 29:6 His descendants settled in southern Arabia, where their and Job 38:5. The man named Peleg, however, was so existence is known from ancient Sabean inscriptions (see named after the division and scattering of the nations at Map 2). Babel. In fact, one of the ancient names of Babylon (Babel) is nowadays translated as ‘the place of canals’ (70) Sheba (palgu); whereas a better translation would obviously be Yet a third man named Sheba! (see 48, 22 and 95). Due ‘the place of division’. There is, however, an ancient city to the presence in Arabia of both the Cushite and Joksh­ that bore his name, that was known to the Akkadians as anite tribes of Sheba, neither this individual, nor his Phalgu, whose ruins lie at the junction of the Euphrates descendants are discernible in the records. and Chaboras (Chebar, see Ezekiel 1:1) rivers. W e see in the genealogy that the scattering of the nations from Babel (71) Ophir thus occurred in the fifth generation after the Flood (see Their existence being duly noted in the pre-Islamic Ara­ Map 2). bian inscriptions, this tribe’s area of settlement is given by them as lying between Saba in the Yemen, and Hawlan (or (75) Reu Havilah, see 72). The name seems to have been preserved This name appears as a personal name in Akkadian in the coastal town of Ma’afir in south-west Arabia (see documents, where it is rendered Ra’u. The early Greeks Map 2). knew it as Ragau. Reu was to give his name to an island in the Euphrates that lies just below the city of Anat, and (72) Havilah which the Akkadians knew as Ra’ilu. It was also known There were two Arabian tribes that were known under the to the Greeks as Ragu (see Map 2). (76) Serug He gave his name to the city and district that was known to the Akkadians as Sarugi. This lay to the west of Haran (see 79). It is usually taught that the Greeks gave Syria its name after confusing the name of Assyria. It is, however, more likely that the name of Syria is a corruption of Serug’s name (see Map 2).

(77) Nahor There seems to be no secular record concerning him, but see (83).

(78) Terah The father of Abraham, he later settled in Haran (see 79), where he died. The name Terah is associated in Jewish literature with the moon-god, and some thus think that there exists a direct etymological link between his name and the ‘teraphim’, that is, small idolatrous images that were kept in most households. When we consider the subsequent history of Terah and his line (excluding that of Abraham through Isaac), then this is not at all unlikely. Indeed, Joshua 24:2 describes Terah as an idolater. However, near to the city of Haran, there was a place that bore Terah’s name, known to the Assyrians as Turahi, and to the Akkadians as Turahu (see Map 2).

(79) Haran Haran was the youngest of his father’s sons. He was bom at Ur, and died there at a young age. To his father, Terah, (see 78) is attributed the founding of the city of Haran, Terah naming the place in his son’s memory and honour. The city lay on the main highway to Nineveh from Carchemish, and it is interesting to note that the Assyrian noun for main-road was harranu. From its earliest days, the city was one of the chief centres of moon-worship, and we frequently read of its temple being restored and embel­ lished by successive kings of Assyria. Its temple was, indeed, every bit as famous and well-subscribed as that at Figure 10. After a stone statuette depicting an Ammonite King, dated Ur (where the family originated). Nimrod also was wor­ to C.800 bc. The chief ‘god’ of the Ammonites, the worship of which shipped here (see 25), he being referred to in the inscrip­ made them notorious in the ancient world, was Moloch. For details of tions concerning him as the ‘Prince of the men of Haran’ such ‘worship’ see my article The Historic Jonah, E x Nihilo Technical (see Map 2). Journal, volume 2, 1986, p. 113.

(80) Lot Secular history is silent concerning him, save for the fact 25 miles to the north-east of the Dead Sea. Present-day that the Dead Sea has always been called by the Arabs, the Amman, in fact, was once the capital city of the Ammon­ Sea of Lot (see Map 2). ite nation, and was known in the old world as Rabbath- ammon. We know from the first book of the Maccabees (81) Moab that Judas Maccabaeus confronted the Ammonites, and He was, of course, the founder of the nation of Moab. This hence that the Ammonites had survived as a distinct nation nation was also known as Mu’abu to the Akkadians, and until at least the second century b c . However, in the first as M-’-b to the Egyptians (see Map 4). century b c their lands were occupied by the Nabataeans (see Nebaioth, 97) and it is here that the Ammonites, as (82) Benammi such, disappear from the historical scene. The personal He founded the Ammonite nation, and his name is still name of Benammi is known from certain clan-lists from perpetuated in the modern city of Amman that lies some Ugarit. There also survives from Nimrud (see 25) an Figure 11. Arabs fleeing on a camel from a skirmish with Assyrian soldiers (from a bas-relief at Nineveh). These Arabs are riding a Dromedary, a breed of camel for which the Midianite tribes were famous. inscription bearing the name of banu Ammanaia. The (85) Shuah Assyrians generally knew the Ammonite nation as Bit- The founder of the Shuites, one of whose descendants Am-ma-na-aia, that is, the House of Ammon (see Figure (Bildad) counselled Job. The Assyrians knew Shuah’s 10) (see Map 4). posterity as the Suhu, and describe their land as lying adjacent to the Euphrates, south of Carchemish, between (83) Nahor the Balikh and Khabur rivers. (The Khabur river was The name Nahor is known from Babylonian inscriptions, recorded as the Chaboras by Ptolemy [see Peleg 74] and and from the clay tablets of Mari, which render the name as the Chebar by Ezekiel) (see Map 2). as Nahur. Nahor in fact settled in Haran (see 79), which was later to become known as the ‘Town of Nahor’. This (86) Ishbak appears in inscriptions from the reign of Ashurbanipal, as He was the progenitor of a tribe who seem to have settled Nahuru, and the city’s ruins were known to the Assyrians to the east of Canaan. Otherwise, secular records seem to as Til-Nahiri, that is the Mound of Nahor (see Map 2). be silent concerning them (see Map 2).

(84) Abraham (87) Midian The well-known founder of the Jewish people.6 There The founder of the Midianite tribes of Arabs. The Arabian exists from Babylonia an early clay tablet that bears the historian, Yakut, tells us that they spoke the Hawil dialect name of a man called Abi-ramu, and the name is rendered of Arabic (see 72), and he also confirms the fact that as Abarama in the Eblaite tablets. Another bears the name Midian was the son of Abraham. The tribes of Midian are of Sarai, but whether these were the Abram and Sarai of also known from Egyptian and other sources, Ptolemy, for the Genesis record or not, we have no way of knowing. example, recording their name as Modiana, whilst the Josephus quotes the Babylonian historian, Berosus, as ancient pre-islamic Arab city of Madyan is today known saying, ‘In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was as Magha’ir Shu’aib (see Figure 11) (see Map 2). a man among the Chaldeans who was righteous and great . . . ’. Josephus, rightly in my opinion, regarded this (88) Ephah remark as a direct reference to Abraham, even though Ephah’s descendants settled in what is now Ghuwafa, to Berosus did not actually name him. Abraham was, how­ the south-west of Tebuk, in the north-west Arabian pen­ ever, named by Hecataeus and by Nicolaus of Damascus. insula. They are known to us in the annals of Tiglath- pileser III, who refers to them as the Hayapa. Subse­ at Tema (see 109) (see Map 2). quently, they are last heard of in an inscription of Sargon II that dates to the year 715 b c (see Map 2). (97) The sons of Dedan The sons of Dedan who founded three tribes of Semitic (89) Epher Dedanite Arabs, of whom nothing further is learnt from Ashurbanipal of Assyria recorded the name of Epher’s secular sources save only for the fact that in later Jewish descendants as the Apparu. The city in which they settled literature the Asshurim (not to be confused with the still bears the name of their founder, Ghifar. It lies close Assyrians), were described as travelling merchants; the to Medina (see Map 2). Letushim were those who ‘sharpened weapons’; and the Leummim were somewhat enigmatically described as the (90) Henoch ‘chiefs of those who inhabit the isles’, the significance of He founded the famous Kenite tribe of Midianite Arabs. which phrase is now lost to us. From this information, it They were renowned coppersmiths who settled to the would appear that the Asshurim and Letushim would south-west of the Gulf of Aqaba (see Map 2). travel the countryside selling and repairing various items, rather like the numerous tribes of gypsies and tinkers that (91) Abidah were once a common feature of the English and European Minean inscriptions from the Yemen record the name of scenes. Abidah’s posterity as the Abiyadi’. Their precise area of settlement is unknown, however, although it must have (98) Zimran been in the south-eastern regions of the Arabian peninsula The chieftain and founder of an Arab tribe, whose chief (see Map 2). city lay to the west of Mecca. Ptolemy recorded its name as Zabram, the letters ‘m’ and ‘b’ being interchangeable (92) Eldaah in Arabic (see Map 2). The descendants of Eldaah are known to us from ancient Sabean inscriptions, which refer to them as the Yada’il. (99) Isaac We do not know their precise area of settlement, although Although he is well-enough known in the biblical records, it is certainly within the Yemen (see Map 2). secular historians and sources seem to be silent concern­ ing him. (93) Medan He founded various northern Arabian tribes, and his name (100) Ishmael is still preserved in the modern and famous Arab family Among the Babylonian documents that have come down name of Abd-al-Madan. His posterity settled in the town to us from the days of Hammurabi, there is a list of of Madan, and this is mentioned in the inscriptions of witnesses to certain documents. One of these witnesses is Tiglath-pileser HI that date to the year 732 b c . He renders registered as ‘Abuha, son of Ishmael’. the name as Badan, but the letters ‘m’ and ‘b’ are inter­ changeable in Arabic. The town lay to the south of Tema (101) Nebaioth (see 109) (see Map 2). He settled, with his descendants, to the south of the Dead Sea, where they were known to the Chaldeans (see 51) as (94) Jokshan the Nabat, and to the Assyrians as the Nabaiate. Their own Seemingly unknown outside the biblical records, he ap­ inscriptions render the name as ‘nbtw’. The Greek histo­ pears to have settled with his descendants in northern rian, Diodorus, mentions them, and they were known to Arabia (see Map 2). Ptolemy as the Nabatei. The Nabataeans’ final demise was brought about by Augustus Caesar, who cut off the (95) Sheba trade routes of Arabia. By the time of Tiberius Caesar, all The descendants of this Sheba made up the Semitic Arabs the land east of Judea was collectively known as Na­ who were to supercede the earlier Hamitic tribe who bataea. founded the original nation of Sheba. Here we note again the direct derivation of the Hebrew word ‘rab (Arab) from (102) Kedar ereb (mixed multitude) (see Map 2). Known to the Hebrews as the Qedar, and the Assyrians as the Qidri, his descendants became the great tribe of Arabs (96) Dedan who settled in the north-west Arabian peninsula, and Again, the descendants of this Dedan made up the tribes whose black tents were to become proverbial in the of Semitic Dedanite Arabs, who were to supercede the ancient world. We are informed in Babylonian sources earlier Hamitic tribes of Dedan. The city of Dedan that the armies of Nebuchadnezzar confronted the tribe of (modern Daidan), is mentioned in the inscriptions of Kedar in a major skirmish of the year 599 b c , an incident Nabonidus, king of Babylon, who spent his years of exile that was foretold by Jeremiah 49:28 and 29. The tribe of Kedar is also mentioned in the annals of Ashurbanipal, he also knew as Tema’. The city of Tema, with those of with whom they clashed, and in various other Assyrian Dedan and Dumah (see 106), formed stages in the caravan documents. In these, the men of Kedar are mentioned in route from Babylon down to Sheba (see 22 and 95) (see close association with those of Nebaioth (see 101). The Map 2). founder of Islam, Mohammed, was to trace his own direct descent from Kedar (see Map 2). (110) Jetur He was the progenitor of the Ituraeans, who were known (103) Adbeel to the Greeks as the Itouraia. The Ituraeans are mentioned He was the founder of a tribe who were known to the in the works of Dio Cassius, Josephus, Pliny, Strabo and Akkadians as the Idibilu. This same people are subse­ others; and they were known to the Roman authorities as quently mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-pileser III, a notorious tribe of robbers. The descendants of Jetur per­ who tells us how he conquered the Idiba’leans and em­ petrated a massacre of Lebanese Christians in the year ployed them to guard the approaches to Egypt’s borders. 1860 a d (see Map 4). Their area of settlement was in north-west Arabia, close to the lands of Kedar (see 102) and Nebaioth (see 101) (see (111) Naphish Map 2). He and his lineage are variously known in the biblical records as Nephish, the children of the Nephusim, and the (104) Mibsam Nephishesim. They are seemingly unknown from secular An otherwise unknown Bedhouin chieftain. sources.

(105) Mishma (112) Kedemah He settled with his descendants at what is known today as He and his descendants settled in what was later known as Jebel Mishma in the vicinity of Tema (see 109) (see Map the Wilderness of Kedemoth. The tribe dwelt in the city 2). that is known today as es-Za’feran (see Map 4).

(106) Dumah FOOTNOTES The Assyrians and Babylonians knew Dumah’s descen­ dants as the Adammatu. Nabonidus later tells us how he 1. Sometimes, of course, the memory of the creation and conquered the Adummu. Ptolemy referred to them as the so on was not so distorted. On deciphering the Domatha; and Porphyry recorded their name as the fragments of certain clay tablets, George Smith Dumathii. We know them as the Idumaeans. The name writes: of Dumah is still preserved in the modern Arab city of ‘The fragment of the obverse, broken as it is, is pre­ Dumat-al-Jandal, the ancient capital of his tribe (see Map cious as giving the description of the chaos or deso­ 2). late void before the Creation of the world, and the first movement of creation. This corresponds to the first (107) Massa two verses of the first chapter of Genesis . . . . Our The descendants of Massa were known to the Assyrians next fragments refer to the creation of mankind, as the Mas’a, who with the tribe of Tema (see 109) were called Adam, as in the Bible; he is made perfect, and forced to pay tribute to Tiglath-pileser HI. He tells us how instructed in his religious duties, but afterwards he he conquered them along with the peoples of Haiappa (see joins with the dragon of the deep . . . the spirit of Ephah, 88) the Idiba’leans (see 103) and others. Ptolemy chaos, and offends against his god . . .’. Chaldean knew the tribe as the Masanoi, who lived to the north-east Genesis, pp. 64 and 304 (see Bibliography) of Dumah (see 106). Josephus records their name as the 2. See Genesis 4:22. The Germanic and Nordic races Mesanaeans, and in his day their lands were known to the worshipped him as Thor. Romans as Charax Spasini (see Map 2). 3. Unger, pp. 174 and 175 (see Bibliography). 4. ‘It can be proved that the idolatry of the whole earth (108) Hadad is one . . . and that all the paganisms of the human race This name is rendered as Haddu in the Akkadian inscrip­ are only a wicked and deliberate, yet most instructive tions, and was the name of a pagan god. Hadad himself, corruption of the primeval gospel first preached in however, is unknown from secular sources. Eden, and through Noah afterwards conveyed to all mankind ... . But yet, amid all the seeming variety (109) Tema of heathenism, there is an astonishing oneness and Still known by today’s Arabs as Taima’, the city of identity, bearing testimony to the truth of God’s Tema’s descendants lies some 70 miles north-east of Word.’ The Two Babylons, p. 224 (see Bibliogra­ Dedan (see 23 and 96). Nabonidus, king of Babylon from phy) 556–539 b c , passed his years of exile in this city, which 5. The early Irish Celts traced their own descent from the Scythian lineage of Magog. Shortly before the year Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, University 432 a d , their various pedigrees and genealogies were of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. collected together by the pre-Christian scholars of Keller, Werner, 1974. The Bible as History, Hodder & Ireland. See Part 2 of this article. Stoughton, London. ‘As the Milesians were the last of the Morris, Henry, and Whitcomb, John, 1961. The Genesis colonists . . . only their genealogies, with a few ex­ Flood, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Com­ ceptions, have been preserved. The genealogical tree pany, Phillipsburg, New Jersey. begins, therefore, with the brothers Eber and Eremon, New English Bible Dictionary, Inter-Varsity Press, the two surviving leaders of the expedition, whose London. Reprinted 1972. ancestors are traced back to Magog, the son of Poole, Matthew, 1685. A Commentary on the Holy Japhet.... There are also other families claiming Bible, Edinburgh. Now published in facsimile by the descent from Emer, the son of Ir, brother to Eber and Banner of Truth Trust in 3 volumes. Eremon; as also from their cousin Lugaidh, the son Smith, George, 1876. The Chaldean Account of Gene­ o f lth. From these four sources the principal Celtic sis, Sampson Low, London. families o f Ireland have sprung ..’ Unger, Merril, 1954. Archaeology and the Old Testa­ Cusack, M. F., 1868. The Illustrated History of Ire­ ment, Zondervan, Michigan. land, p. 84. Facsimile edition by Bracken Books, Zenaid, A. Ragozin, 1898. Assyria: The Story of the 1987, London. Nations Series, Fisher Unwin, New York. 6. Throughout history, it can be shown that either the prosperity or the downfall of various nations is di­ rectly related to their attitude to, and treatment of the Jewish people, the children of Abraham. Indeed, so consistent is this rule that it has surely attained the status of a universal law of history, a law which had its beginnings in the promise of God to Abraham that is recorded in Genesis 12:3. Those nations that have helped the Jews and befriended them, have prospered accordingly. Those that sought their destruction have always themselves been destroyed. This much is demonstrable, and is invariable in its application even when such nations as Assyria were used to punish the Jewish nation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Note: This list is by no means exhaustive, but is designed to give the student a good working background knowledge to the subject. One or two of the more recent works cited here do, naturally, subscribe to modernist principles, although they contain much valuable information, citing certain facts if only in an attempt to refute them. Comay, Joan, 1972. Who’s Who in the Old Testament, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London. Dhorme, P., 1932. Les Peuples issus de Japhet, d’apres le Chapitre X de la Genese, Syria. XIII, pp. 28–49. Flavius, Josephus. Josephus: Complete Works, trans­ lated by William Whiston, Pickering and Inglis, 1981, London and Glasgow. Helps to the Study of the Bible, 1885, Oxford University Press. Hislop, Alexander, 1959. The Two Babylons, Loiseaux Bros, New Jersey. (This book is required reading if the student is to grasp the immense complexities that underlie the pagan systems of mythology.) Hodgen, Margaret, 1971. Early Anthropology in the